Recovery
by Nivena
Summary: Luffy has lost his friends, and is looking for his kidnapped brother. But can his broken heart be healed by a new set of nakama? Slightly AU, but most changes are subtle. OOC Luffy, and different devil fruit.


Zoro and Sanji were not enjoying the great outdoors. For one, it was freezing cold, and neither of them brought extra layers. Second, they were not there by choice. No, those two were bounty hunters, and they needed some more money, or they'd starve. Just as they were thinking 'Can this get any worse?', Life decided to take that as a personal challenge. And then, the scariest teenager either of them had met, walked in on their lives.

* * *

**Zoro POV**

We were waiting for a bandit to come out of their hideout. What we did NOT expect was a short and scrawny teenager wearing a straw hat to walk out. He was being shadowed by a tall, thin man, who was incredibly quiet. Sanji was about to mug the man, and have him cough up change, but I held him back. I was curious to see what was going on.

The man finally made a move, and pulled out his knife to slit the boy's throat. But the boy spun around, grabbed him by the throat, and shoved him into a nearby tree. I heard the sickening crunch of bone, and saw the man go limp. "I thought I told you not to follow me." the boy hissed. The man made a weak attempt to stab him with a knife, which the boy responded to by gripping his throat tighter. "I can not let this slaughter go unpunished." he responded. I have to give the man credit, because he just stared down a person who could obviously kill him anytime, and threatened him. The boy punched him in the face, and probably crushed his skull. He walked away from the broken man, wiping the blood on his red vest, unconcernedly.

He regarded us with cold brown eyes. It was the eyes that definitely scared me the most. They told me that he would not hesitate to murder, and that he'd done it before. Then, Sanji, the being of infinite wisdom that he is, attacked him. "THAT WAS OUR MEAL TICKET!" he bellowed. I rolled my eyes, and hung back, feeling Sanji would be more than enough to take him. Boy, was I wrong. Sanji unleashed a flurry of kicks, which the teenager in the straw hat easily dodged. I watched amused, as Sanji got madder and madder. The boy walked off, still dodging the kicks with ease, despite not seeing Sanji. Suddenly, I felt a pulse of... the only way to describe it is... power. Sanji immediately fell, over, tired as he was from constantly attacking for five minutes.

I pulled Sanji along, while attempting to quietly shadow the teenager. The key word in that sentence is attempt. Every time Sanji's head bumped a rock, he let out a quiet moan. I was sure the straw hatted boy knew we were there, but he didn't turn around. As we got closer, I noticed disturbing details. The boy's fists were dripping with blood, and he didn't bother wiping it away. His nails were sharpened into long claws. He exuded a feral and dangerous aura, which frankly, scared me.

* * *

The boy finally stopped in front of a large hut. A man with yellow hair that resembled a pineapple greeted him. "Any news?" He asked, with a forced grin

"I know where he is." replied the teen

"Where?"

"Impel Down."

At this, the blond man gasped

"You can't be serious! I can't let you break into Impel Down!"

"If Ace is there, I would go to hell and back for him. I'm leaving in the morning."

* * *

The pineapple man finally looked over at us. Or more specifically, the passed out cook slung over my shoulder. His eyebrow raised in confusion, and he walked over. Suddenly his hand started bursting into flames. Yes, you heard me right. Flames. Fire. Burning. Ouchies. He touched/burned Sanji, and I made a move to attack him. He held me back, and Sanji woke up with a groan. Pineapple-head sat down, and so did we.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Pineapple-head finally spoke.

"He wasn't always like this, you know."

"Eh? Who?" I replied, eloquently.

"Luffy."

I realized with a start that he was talking about the raven-haired boy.

Pineapple-head spoke again

"He used to smile and laugh, and act like an idiot. He avoided needless bloodshed, and never killed. But when his brother, Ace, was kidnapped, something inside him snapped. He hasn't smiled for six months, let alone laughed. He's been increasingly violent. I don't think he's human anymore."

With that, he left, taking my sanity with him. Now, all I felt was bubbling curiosity.

* * *

**Luffy POV**

I went to say bye to White-beard. I was staying for the rest of the night, then leaving in the morning for Impel Down. On the way back, I ran into Marco again.

"Hey, Luffy, we need more food. Mind going out and getting some?" he asked, trying to look me in the eyes.

I let my straw hat shade the upper half of my face, and walked out into the forest.

I decided to use only Haki, as I would need this skill to be strong to save Ace. Each beast stupid enough to fight me, I crushed with Conqueror's Haki. I knew I could knock people out with it, but after six months of training, I learned something new. I can kill with it too. After getting a mass of bodies to bring back, I tore into one, not bothering with cooking it. I ate it raw, blood and all. I was hungry. I brought back to massive pile of bodies, and left it in the kitchen. I went to my quarters, which I shared with several people, Marco among them. I didn't exactly join them, but in return for a place to stay for the night, I brought back food. There was no bunk bed for me, and I was fine with that. I sat with my back against the wall, and put the straw-hat over my eyes. I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I woke up to my Observation Haki telling me of an impending attack. A knife, going for my throat, in three, two, one. Without opening my eyes, I caught the blade and twisted it out of my would-be assassin's grip. With a flick of my hand, I was pointing the knife at them, and finally opened my eyes. My assassin was some unnamed man in division three.

I sighed. Sure I was attacking people more often, but that's not a reason to kill me. Well, maybe it was. Whatever. I knocked him out cold with some Conqueror's Haki, and looked out the window. It was about five in the morning. I got up, and walked to my ship. A small, maneuverable caravel I called the Going Merry. I'd need more crew-members, but whatever. I grinned, and looked into the distance.

"I'll get you Ace. I promise."

* * *

Yep, I started a new story. I have a short attention span! Well, this is going to a be fun, and don't worry, I didn't give upon the Hatred fic. I just need inspiration.


End file.
